Known pontoon boats usually have an elongated deck with a bow and a stern. The deck is supported in the water by two or three pontoons. Some known pontoon boats incorporate an inboard/outboard-type engine in an engine compartment located at the stern of the deck. The engine compartment is usually centrally located relative to the width of the deck with the outboard portion of the engine extending axially generally on a center line of the deck.
One of the problems with many known pontoon boats that have inboard/outboard engines relates to ease of engine maintenance. The engines are often located in a recessed engine compartment. For example, hinged seats or a sundeck may cover and close the engine compartment.
The seats and/or sundeck are usually attached by a pivot, or hinges to the stern of the boat. Hence, the seats and/or sundeck must be rotated upwardly from the deck toward the stern. When the seats and/or sundeck are so rotated, the compartment cannot be reached from the stern. Instead, it can only be reached from the deck.
Providing a pivot or hinge structure at the stern of the watercraft for the seats/sundeck, as described above, precludes access to the engine from the stern of the watercraft. On the other hand, it may be desirable at times to access the engine from the deck, for example, where the boat is in deep water.
Often the inboard section of the engine, in the compartment is 24 or more inches below deck level. This location can require maintenance personnel to kneel or lay on the deck to reach the engine. Neither of these postures contributes to efficiency or ease of maintenance. In some known instances, the opening to the engine compartment is not as wide as the engine is long. The engine thus extends, at least in part, under the deck. This also contributes to inconvenience and difficulty in carrying out maintenance makes engine maintenance more difficult and less convenient than desired.
Thus, it would be desirable to be able to configure engine compartments for pontoon boats to facilitate easier maintenance. It would be especially desirable if the engine would be readily accessible from the stern of the boat without having to get up on the deck to carry out maintenance procedures.
Since many such watercraft do not carry an enclosed cabin it would be desirable to be able to incorporate a temporary changing room or privacy region on such watercraft provided such could be done without compromising access to the engine compartment. One such privacy structure has been disclosed in Tomczak et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,053 B1 issued Oct. 16, 2001 entitled “Boat Mountable Stowable Enclosure”. The Tomczak et al. patent is assigned to the Assignee hereof and incorporated by reference herein. It would be further desirable to be able to combine an engine hatch which provides for more convenient access to the engine from the stern of the watercraft than has heretofore been available while at the same time providing a temporarily deployable privacy region of the type generally disclosed in the above noted Tomczak et al. patent.